Wait a minute! I thought that stand your ground hearings are decided by judges; not juries. If Reeves’ defense attorneys sincerely believe they can prevail in a SYG immunity hearing, why are they concerned with tainting the jury pool? Another thought is that case documents are not free to the public. It is generally the media who obtains documents filed in the case and they only pay for documents that have significance and not depositions.

Attorneys for the former cop charged with killing a man & shooting the man’s wife in what is called the “popcorn shooting” have filed a motion to stop public access to court records as a stand your ground hearing approaches. They claim that media coverage leading up to the trial may prejudice prospective jurors.

Retired Tampa Police Department Captain Curtis Judson Reeves, 73 years-old, is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree battery in the shooting death of 43-year-old Chad Oulson and wounding of Oulson’s wife, Nicole. The incident happened inside a movie theater in Pasco County on January 13, 2014 during an argument.

Reeves is claiming self-defense under Florida’s stand your ground law, saying he fired on Oulson after the younger man threw an “unknown object” at him, which turned out to be a box of popcorn, and presumably a cell phone. Circuit Court Judge Susan L…

“Escobar maintains that the forced filing of depositions from witnesses, law enforcement, & others will “cause a wholly unpredictable and potentially devastating chain reaction of media coverage, and that the deposition transcripts contain “prejudicial, inadmissible, inflammatory, irrelevant, inaccurate, unreliable, and demonstrably incorrect and false statements,” and that there is “no realistic possibility that news media will refrain from publicizing this,” prejudicing potential jurors.”

Mindyme,
“Crazy” is right. Escobar’s argument is not credible. When have we seen the media present and report on depositions? We didn’t see that in Zimmerman’s nor Dunn’s trials. The media seldom even presented motions on their websites. It was O’Mara who setup a website and put motions on it.

Hey Mindyme! Yes, he has filed an appeal and yes, I don’t think that is going to work for him

Here is a copy of Dunn’s appeal brief. It is huge and practically throws everything, including the kitchen sink, against the wall. It doesn’t appear that attorney Phillips has made the State’s brief available. Oral argument is scheduled for June. Dunn’s argument to reverse his conviction and sentencing in a nut-shell is that the judge should have instructed the jury to give consideration to Dunn’s fear. As I understand from media reports, the State has challenged that by stating that after the Durango pulled off, Dunn got out of his car and continued to fire, which evidenced malice.

Yep, I agree, I don’t think that is going to work for him. Who was really in fear, the boys trying to get away from him as he got out of his car and continued to fire, or him, who was found to be the only one with a gun? And don’t forget he had pizza and a few drinks after and didn’t bother to call 911.

Butterflydreamer,
Wayne Davis, the foreman of the jury for Dunn’s retrial gave an interview. He was asked if Dunn’s actions after the shooting had any significance.

Wayne Davis said;

“He left and everybody else came back. He never called, he never called anybody to the scene, that he saw a gun, that he was in danger — just left,” he said.

We asked, “So if he called 911 that night, do you think it would have been a different case?”

“For me it would have factored in if he was guilty or not,” said Wayne Davis.

That was a key point at trial, and it might also be important in the appeal because a person afraid for their life, who thinks they saw a gun, calls the police and tells them. Dunn’s actions indicate a man who tried getting away. Had that witness not gotten Dunn’s license plate number, the case might still be an unsolved case today.